1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a handle and a neck for a racket, and more particularly to a handle detachably connected to a neck of a racket so that a damper can be mounted between the handle and the neck to absorb shock and vibration and prevent transmission of the shock and vibration to the player""s hand.
2. Description of Related Art
The physical characteristics of a racket such as the weight, the balance, the length and the size of the handle, etc. are crucial to a player. Another important factor to the player is the rigidity of the racket. Some players prefer a rigid racket, and some players prefer a racket with more flexibility. No matter how different the characteristics of individual rackets may be, after the racket is produced, the rigidity of the racket is fixed, and the player has no way to adjust the rigidity. Because of the fixed rigidity of the racket, the player will have to adjust his playing techniques to the particular court whenever the player goes to a new court. To mitigate the problem, having a racket with adjustable rigidity seems to be the solution to overcome the problems caused by different court characteristics. With reference to FIG. 4A, the joint between a conventional neck (50) and a conventional handle (60) with a grip (61) has a resilient transition element (62) mounted between the bottom of the neck (50) and the top of the handle (60) and a collar (63) mounted over outer peripheral edges of the neck (50) and the handle (60) to cover the resilient transition element (62). With such an arrangement, whenever the player swings the racket, the shock and vibration from the racket is able to be absorbed by the resilient transition element (62). Thus injury to the player""s wrist is prevented. However, even a racket provided with the resilient transition element (62) has a fixed rigidity, which means the player still has to practice in advance and adjust his playing techniques to accommodate the features of a strange court. Furthermore, the engagement of the elements of the structure is based on the expansion of the resilient transient element (62), which causes a friction in a longitudinal direction of the racket. This engagement between elements is not solid.
With reference to FIG. 4B, another conventional neck (70) and handle (80) is shown. It is noted that the bolt (71) extends through the elastomer (90) which is received between the joint of the neck (70) and the handle (80) to securely connect the handle (80) to the neck (70). The elastomer (90) will push the handle (80) away from the neck (70) so the structure is not able to have a good shock absorbing effect and a firm structure at the same time.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide an improved neck and handle of a racket to mitigate and obviate the aforementioned problems.
The primary objective of the invention is to provide an elastomer having an adjustable flexibility in the handle so that the player is able to adjust the rigidity of the racket when required.
Another objective of the invention is to provide a neck with tapered walls and a handle with a tapered chamber complementary to the tapered walls to receive the tapered walls of the neck. With such an arrangement, the engagement between the neck and the handle will not detach easily.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings